Pages

Monday, May 16, 2011

Quicker Boston Baked Beans

With Memorial Day fast approaching, the aroma of grilled food will be soon wafting all over our BBQ loving neighborhood-- I'm excited! We enjoy grilling. We also love baked beans as a side dish, and I usually buy my favorite commercial brand-- Bush's Baked Beans. Until now, I've never attempted to make my own Boston Baked Beans. I was intimidated, I think, because I envisioned having to cook the beans for long hours-- and I wondered if I needed a special pot.

When my issue of the June/July 2011 issue of Cook's Country Magazine arrived, I read it from cover-to-cover. This magazine belongs to the family of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated. I love their recipes, so I read every article from start to finish. According to the Boston Baked Beans article, "most recipes call for at least six hours of cooking time in the oven. The test kitchen decided to develop a version that would cook in two hours! After reading the ingredients list, I realized I had everything on hand. My husband was making pulled pork, on the Weber. I planned to make the Carolina Red Slaw (also in this magazine issue) and I liked the idea of having baked beans as a side dish. For ingredients, I began with a one-pound bag of Navy Beans, picked through and rinsed.

The test kitchen researched baking soda, and realized that, by adding 1 Tablespoon, it would cut the cooking time of the beans in half. Better yet, I didn't have to presoak the beans! The beans were brought to a boil in a Dutch oven, and then briskly simmered on medium-high for 20 minutes; then drained. Meanwhile...

I cut six ounces of salt pork into 1/4" pieces...

...and measured out the remaining ingredients; then preheated the oven to 350F. (A printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.)

The salt pork was cooked over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Next, I added chopped onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. I stirred in 3 cups of water, the beans, brown sugar, 1/4 cup molasses, Worcestershire, 1 tablespoon mustard, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper-- then brought it to a boil. I transferred the Dutch oven, covered, to the oven and cooked them until beans were nearly tender, about 1 1/2 hours. They smelled so good, while they were baking. I was anxious to try them...

Whoops! The water had pretty much evaporated. I should have heeded the recipe note to increase the water by an extra cup, since I used a heavy cast-iron Dutch oven. I added a bit more water and then gave the beans a stir-- problem solved. It was time to taste.

TASTING NOTE #1: The beans were perfectly cooked, thank goodness. To me, the flavor was was very savory. I wasn't sure if it was the Worcestershire sauce, or too much Dijon mustard. Personally, I was sorely tempted to add tomato paste. But, the article said, "Although many recipes call for tomato products, native New Englander's assured us that they had no place in an authentic Boston baked bean recipe." I reconsidered what to do, as I much prefer a sweeter version of baked beans. Hey, I'm from California!

I decided to add an extra 1/4 cup of brown sugar and some honey. Yes, honey! I'm sorry if this offends anyone from Boston, but this did the trick for me.

FINAL TASTING NOTES: I have to be honest with all of you. On a scale from 1-5, 5 meaning that the beans were out-of-this-world great, I give this recipe a 3.5... only because I think Bush's Beans have spoiled my palate. HOWEVER, my husband and son loved these beans! They were completely devoured by day #2, and my son asked me to make them again. Therefore, my suggestion is that you can either adapt this recipe if you like a less savory version of Boston Baked Beans. Just to be a bit rebellious, I might go ahead and add some tomato paste, next time. I can't help it, but I love the tang of some concentrated tomato. Just don't tell anyone you know, who lives on the East Coast! I'll just rename them "California Baked Beans", okay?

6 comments:

These baked beans definitely seem like the perfect accompaniment to that pulled pork! And honestly, I've never had New England Baked Beans that weren't sweet....so I'm not sure who Cook's Illustrated was quoting. So go ahead and add your tomato paste and brown sugar!

Lovely. I find too many commercial canned baked beans to be too sweet, so your mustardy-worcestershirey (that was a hard adjective to type and say) beans sound right up my alley . I need an invitation to your house for a barbecue, cause I want some pulled pork too!

Welcome!

Welcome to my internet kitchen. Please, sit back and relax, and watch me make delicious food and bakery recipes. Most of my recipes are simple, flavorful meals-- and a few baked treats. I focus on using fresh, seasonal ingredients and I try to avoid using boxed mixes and processed foods. I'm having fun learning how to cook like my grandmother once did-- from scratch! I hope that my step-by-step photos will inspire a timid cook to try them. Even if you're a seasoned cook, hopefully you'll learn a new tip or two.

If you have any questions,or just want to say "hello", please feel free to email me: foodiewife@gmail.com

Join Me On Facebook

Please respect my photo's copyrights!

Please be courteous. Don't steal my content!

Unfortunately, I am finding that my photos are being copied and used on other blogs. This makes my otherwise cheerful personality, very unhappy.If you'd like to use one of my photographs, all you have to do is email me at foodiewife@gmail.com. Please, do not use my photographs to represent a recipe that isn't mine, and without linking it back to me. Failure to use my work without my permission is copyright infringement. Thank you!

Looking for a specific recipe? Start here:

Loading...

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address:

Please start your Amazon shopping here. I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you!

Mardis Gras King Cake (with a Cream Cheese filling)

Super Bowl Noms

Grab A Button

Do you "Pinterest"?

Privacy Policy

This policy is valid from 30 August 2014

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.